Join Animal Ethics Research Team

One of the main objectives of Animal Ethics is writing carefully researched reports and articles to make available to the general public, activists and people in the scientific and academic communities.

To date, we have published more than 150 articles about different issues related to why and how we should be concerned about the lives of sentient beings.

However, there is still much more work that needs to be done. In particular, while some issues have been already explored, others remain unknown to most people, including those in relevant positions such as animal advocates and influential people who may be sensitive to the situation of animals.

This is particularly the case for animals living in the wild, as most people have no knowledge of their true situation and their suffering and of what can be done to help them. There appears to be little understanding of the situation of small animals, such as many invertebrates, and their capacity to feel. In fact, scant attention is given in the case of the arguments for considering sentience, instead of other criteria, as the reason upon which we should base moral consideration.

Animal Ethics is working to make more knowledge available about these and other issues that are important to all sentient beings. This is a huge task, and so your help can be invaluable. Many people, from different countries around the globe, have been collaborating to make the publications of our materials possible. Perhaps you can help us too!

What you can help with

The different tasks you can collaborate on include:

Preparing bibliographic lists

Designing research projects

Selecting information

Researching issues and writing papers and reports

Reviewing the work others have done

Proofreading and editing

Translating

Composing graphs and infographics

Helping with maths and statistics

Fields we research

The fields we work in include the following:

The consideration of nonhuman animals in ethical theories and the arguments against speciesism

The interests that animals have and why they are relevant

The different criteria there are to consider that a being is sentient and how they can be applied to different animals

The situation of animals in the wild and the ways in which we can act to aid them

The way nonhuman animals are exploited by human beings today and how we can stop contributing to such exploitation

The ways to improve and increase the impact of animal activism

The ways we can trigger changes in the situation of animals

The best methods for long term transmission of new ideas in order to maximize our impact in the future

No particular technical skills are required to join our team. You can still aid us by looking for information online or at your library about a specific topic. If you’re a researcher or a student, then it’s very likely that your field of study will have an application germane to the development of this work. Below is a list with some of the subjects you can help us to research depending on your training:

The science of ecology, and other fields in biology such as biostatistics

Learning how animals suffer and understanding the conditions of their lives in different ecosystems and how ecosystems can change in ways that can make the suffering and massive deaths of animals worsened or reduced

Considering how models of animal suffering in nature can be better designed

Neuroscience, philosophy of mind and cognitive sciences in general

Doing research to identify the advances concerning the basis of consciousness, and, accordingly, on the ways systems need to be structured and to function in order that consciousness be present

Examining what can currently be said about what kinds of entities can have experiences that can be positive or negative.

Ethology, entomology, veterinary and zoology

Examining what the indicators are that animals, especially small invertebrates, can be sentient, and what appear to be their interests and preferences

Exposing the actual lives of animals, both those who are exploited and those who live in the wild

Philosophy

Refining the arguments for intervening in favor of all nonhuman animals

Examining what aims should be more fundamental in our work for a better world

Sociology, anthropology and psychology

Examining how the knowledge available in these social sciences can be applied in order to identify the best approaches for convincing the public to be concerned about sentient beings and to make a difference for them

History

Analyzing how attitudes towards nonhuman animals have varied in different contexts and how similar changes have taken place in other cases that are relevantly similar to the case of animals

Elucidating future trajectories that may affect different sentient beings

Communication and arts

Determining the ways our message can be best presented and conveyed, so it can be more attractive to the public and achieve a change for nonhuman animals.

Law

Explaining the situation of nonhuman animals in different legal systems, and how animals can be best legally defended in them

Explaining how it may be possible to trigger legal changes for animals in different places

Politics

Bringing the interests of all sentient beings, and not only human beings or groups of human beings, into the political arena in different political systems requires keen political insight.

Mathematics

Mathematicians can carrying out statistics and calculus relevant to several areas of research listed above.

Other fields

It’s very likely that if you work in any field that hasn’t been listed above, you will still have some important contributions to make to the research that we’re carrying out for the sake of animals. Don’t hesitate to let us know what your ideas regarding this are!

In addition, there are other very helpful tasks you can perform that will enable us to disseminate our research:

Languages

You may help by editing or proofreading texts written or translated by other people. If you’re fluent in more than one language, you may help us translate our research into other languages where we haven’t published yet.

Design and infographics

People with abilities in graphic design, video editing and infographcis can help us to increase the impact of our research by improving the way it’s presented.

Don’t hesitate to collaborate with us

When you join our research team, we will discuss with you what content you may work on considering your interests, skills and time as well as our research agenda. Our aim is to maximize the impact of your work in a way that is fully adapted to your availability.

You shouldn’t be afraid that your work may not be of the required quality or sophistication. In fact, it’s very likely that after you have done some research on a certain topic, you’ll discover that what you will produce can indeed be useful to other people. In addition, bear in mind that you won’t work alone, as other people on our team will be helping you with all the technical qualifications needed for your draft to be completed. In the end, our editors ensure that our team produces work consistent with our standards of quality.

If you’re very busy and can only contribute a tiny amount of work on a specific issue, your help will still be much appreciated. Similarly, if you’re a student or have a job that would only allow you to work at limited times during the year, that’s great too. You can just let us know when you have some spare time, and we can determine what kind of research you can do during the times you’re free.

Remember also that, if you can’t join our team as an active member, there are other ways you can help:

Animal Ethics, Inc. is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. Animal Ethics’s Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 46-1062870. Donations made to us in Germany or Switzerland can be made here through GBS.